Boracay prepares for October reopening

June 22, 2018

The Boracay Inter-Agency Task Force, in a hearing conducted Thursday by the House committee on natural resources, proposed a comprehensive action plan for the expected reopening of Boracay island in October after its rehabilitation.

The committee, chaired by Rep. Arnel Ty, held the hearing on the basis of House Resolution 1706, seeking an inquiry into the reported establishment of structures in forest areas, including shorelines in Boracay.

According to the task force headed by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), Boracay is expected to reopen on October 26 this year.

Labor and Employment Undersecretary Claro Arellano enumerated the intervention program for the rehabilitation of Boracay intended for formal and informal workers.

Arellano said the Boracay Emergency Employment Program (BEEP) working group was formed and is composed of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD), Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), Department of Tourism (DOT), Department of Agriculture (DA), Department of Science and Technology (DOST), and the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA). The BEEP conducted preliminary meetings prior to the closure of Boracay, he said.

Led by the DSWD, the BEEP working group created an intervention program which features profiling of formal and informal sector workers; an adjustment measure program to provide assistance to formal sector workers; and an emergency employment program.

The 30-day emergency employment dubbed “Tulong Panghanapbuhay sa ating Disadvantaged/Displaced Workers (TUPAD)” is a DOLE program for informal sector workers.

There is also a government internship program for the youth sector wherein government interns will be tapped to help in the profiling and fast-tracking of assistance to affected workers in Boracay.

Another intervention is social preparation which covers assistance for livelihood and entrepreneurship, job fair, and creation of operations centers in Caticlan, Manuc-manoc, Barangay Balagbag, and Eurotel.

As of June, Arellano said the total number of profiled workers reached 24,453 as encoded by the Region VI office.  Of this figure, 19,689 are formal sector workers while 4,764 are informal sector workers.

But the local government unit of the municipality of Malay in Aklan reported having 17, 735 formal workers, said Arellano.

For the adjustment measure program, he said as of June 18, the DOLE disbursed P1.3 million for 2, 900 beneficiaries. Meanwhile, the emergency employment fund reached P20. 3 million for an estimated 3, 000 beneficiaries in the formal and informal sectors,

According to task force members, Boracay as planned will be reopened for tourism and other economic activities on October 26, but only for establishments compliant with government regulations. DMS